


Hope Lives

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [53]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, Yuri Plisetsky Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 11:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14111616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Almost everyone Yuri would have considered a decent soulmate was older than him.  Oh, sure, there were probably younger people who’d be fine, but when Richard turned out to have a soulmate who wasn’t Yuri, Yuri gave up.Life can be funny, sometimes.





	Hope Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Yuri Plisetsky Week Day 1: Birthdays

Leo and Guang Hong were each other’s soulmates. Otabek ended up with Seung Gil, which how that made any sense Yuri couldn’t figure out. JJ and Isabella were soulmates. Minami’s soulmate was a Japanese pairs skater, and Minami had switched to pairs to be with her. Klaus was younger than Yuri, but he’d already met his soulmate, a German university student. Emil and Mila had ended up with the Crispino twins. So when Richard’s soulmate was an old friend from home, that didn’t leave anyone Yuri could think of who he’d want as a soulmate.

He was not looking forward to the dream. Either it was some stranger, it was someone awful, or it was someone who had known for a while and chose not to tell him that they had a second soulmate.

Or, possibly, it was Phichit. Yuri stared in disbelief. “I thought you didn’t have a soulmate!”

“I never said that. I never said anything about my soulmate!” Phichit grinned at Yuri. “Well. My family knows, my coach knows, Viktor and Yuuri know, and I told Seung Gil when he was confused about having Otabek. He spent the first two years they were together expecting Otabek to tell him he had another soulmate when he turned eighteen, you know.”

“When people asked you about your soulmate, you kept saying shit about how happy you were being single!”

“Which was true! I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I’m generally a pretty happy guy. That doesn’t say anything about whether I have a soulmate or not, and since you asked me not to come until you were eighteen, I considered myself single until now.”

“So why didn’t you date or anything?”

“I didn’t mind waiting for you. You said I could do whatever I wanted, but I kinda got the sense that that was a reluctant concession to the fact that I’d be waiting for you for nearly five years and you'd prefer I didn't. I know you’re not Viktor or Yuuri, but I didn’t see the point in dating before I knew I had the right person, and even less point in dating the wrong person on purpose. I have my skating and my hamsters and the internet Hamsters and promoting skating in Thailand and promoting Thailand in the rest of the world, I didn’t need to date to keep busy, and, well, you know me. If I show up somewhere I don’t already have friends, I very rarely leave there without new ones. It is very rare for me to be lonely.”

Yuri wrapped his arms around himself. Phichit may have meant well, but all Yuri got out of it was, “So what you’re saying is you don’t need me.”

“No, I don't, but that doesn't mean I don't want you. You’re my soulmate. You are the right person, so you’re important enough for me to change priorities. You’re a skater, so I know you understand the demands on my time from that. You’re a cat lover. My hamsters aren’t cats, but the same principle applies – my pets are a huge deal to me. We’ll have to figure out a way to keep Potya from trying to eat them, but we’re both pretty smart guys who love our animals, we’ll figure it out. I think we can make this work.”

Well, maybe there was hope? “Why’d I tell you eighteen instead of sixteen?”

“That one I don’t know. Something about not wanting to deal with media stupidity, which I don’t know why you were so worried, you have me on your side!”

“Viktor and Yuuri knew you were my soulmate and didn’t tell me?” That was hard to believe. Viktor keeping a secret? For five years? Maybe less, if Phichit hadn't told them on his birthday, but still.

“Yeah. I didn’t tell them right away, but they were starting to get worried when your friends started finding their soulmates, so I told them so I didn’t have to listen to Yuuri fret. I love the guy, but he worries way too much about stuff.”

“No kidding. No wonder they were so sure I had someone great out there waiting. Surprised as fuck Viktor didn’t manage to fuck it up and tell me.”

“Honestly, me too. I guess Yuuri threatened something? Viktor does seem to be better able to keep a secret if Yuuri gets involved.”

“Probably. Wish they had told me. Sixteen would’ve been fine.”

“Sorry. I almost outed myself a couple times over the past two years… I think I would have back in January if I didn’t know it was only a little over a month until tonight. I’m guessing you’ll probably want to wait until Saitama before we try to do anything…?

“Yeah. Gonna be hard for a while, especially the next four years with me in university. I’m going to the same one Viktor and Yuuri did, for the same reasons, but it means late vacations.”

“What are you gonna study?”

“Ecology. Nature management. If I don’t stick with skating or dancing in some capacity, I wanna work with wildlife preservation when I retire. I have no problem with moving to Thailand." An old memory occurred to him, and for the first time in the dream, Yuri smiled. "Someone told me once that tigers are really common there!”

Phichit's eyebrows shot up. “What? No, they’re not, they’re endangered.”

“I know, and I called you out on being full of crap back then, too.”

Phichit looked blank, but then his eyes lit up with memory and he started giggling. “Why do you remember that? That was like ten years ago!”

“I dunno. Hadn’t thought of it in years, but for some reason it just came to mind. Soulmate thing?”

“Heh. Must be.”

“Anyway, Saitama to try to get together, but I’m gonna be on the phone tomorrow. What’s a good time for you to talk?”

“Text me when you wake up tomorrow, I know when’s good to call Saint Petersburg from years of being Yuuri’s best friend. You’re good with this? I was an oversight or misassumption, not on the ‘you’d better not be my soulmate’ list?”

“Yeah. I want to go back in time and kick my ass for saying eighteen instead of sixteen, but I’m not gonna get mad at you for doing what I told you to. I like you. No one’s going to believe this, but at least we’ve got our best friends for company in no one believing we’re soulmates.”

“Everyone believes Yuuri.”

“Your other best friend. Besides, Viktor and Yuuri got to go through the not being believed phase. Stupid rumors still pop up every once in a while.”


End file.
